


First Laugh

by fishcollective



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:18:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishcollective/pseuds/fishcollective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity has never heard Oliver laugh, maybe he hasn't even done it once since the shipwreck. Now Oliver is hurt once again, Felicity is on patch up duty and her ramblings might actually bring that first laugh out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Laugh

It has been a long day. Working a Queen Consolidated job while simultaneously having the Arrow once again save the city, undetected, is hard. It's complicated logistically and it's utterly stressful. But they do it, because they care. And never has Felicity been so grateful for the many wifi networks all over the city she can easily hack into, or the wireless in ear comm-plugs she helped Oliver design. But all the wonderful tech in the world doesn't help when it comes to hiding a black eye and an arm bleeding profusely from a bullet wound. When Oliver didn't come back to the function Felicity had to make up an excuse involving food poisoning while Diggle helped the wounded hero get back to their base under Verdant. Diggle had to leave right away, as he was already late to meet Lyla, which put Felicity on patch-up duty.

"This will sting." Felicity dabs Oliver's wound with disinfectant. "It's just a graze. Deep, but just a graze. You're lucky. Again." She grabs the gauze and starts wrapping his upper arm, taking the opportunity to feel his lean muscles without seeming too suspicious. "Okay, done." She says as she secures the end of the wrap and moves to stand in front of him. "I'm becoming a right nurse here. Now let me have a look at that." 

Leaning in Felicity gingerly touches the bruise forming around Oliver's eye. She traces his cheekbone and brow ridge with gentle fingertips. 

"Does it hurt?"

"I've had worse." Oliver places a warm hand on Felicity's, effectively stopping her now almost unabashed exploration of his features.

"Sorry!" She blurts and quickly draws back her hand. "I-"

"It's okay."

Felicity lets her gaze fall and a slight pink rises to her cheeks. She takes a small breath and tenses her shoulders, eyes still trained on the scuffed floor. 

"I like you Oliver. Not just as a friend. And I thought, maybe, you liked me back. A little. You're always there for me and always with the hand on the shoulder and… Oliver, you killed a man for me. He was a bad guy, to the point of comic book villain, but still… and I thought, you know. But now it's-"

She looks up again. Oliver is just staring at her, with a slightly startled expression on his face.

"I'm sorry. Of course you don't like me that way. You couldn't do that. Well you could, technically. I mean, you're a heterosexual male. You could be bisexual too I suppose. Are you? Doesn't matter." She takes a deep breath to try to stop the incessant stream of word. "Point is. You wouldn't. I'm your personal assistant. You're my boss." She takes another breath, this one even shakier. "It's just, you're so nice and hot. I mean, not that I'm looking. Okay I am, but everyone can see it too. Look at you! And now I made you uncomf--" She stops. Oliver is laughing. He is actually laughing, and Felicity realises it is the first time she's heard him do that. Sure, he chuckles sometimes or utters a singular 'ha!', and he very often smiles. Big bright smiles that sets the butterflies inside her aflutter lately. But he has never laughed. Not like this. And she is thrown by it. Oliver Queen has a beautiful laugh. It's bright and sparkly, but in a manly way. It creates wrinkles by his eyes that aren't there even when he smiles. 

"Why… why are you laughing?" She can't help herself. It's just so unexpected, and when she thinks about it, also rather rude.

"For someone so incredibly intelligent, you are rather oblivious miss Smoak." Oliver's laugh dies down and settles into a dazzling, but still amused, smile. "Felicity. You're _wrong_."

"What?" Is he really doing this to her? First he laughs at her, and it's probably the first time he's laughed in six years, and now he's insulting her intelligence?

"You're wrong about _me_. You haven't made me uncomfortable. Surprised yes, but in a good way. You're wrong; I do like you."

Before Felicity has time to vault into another tirade, Oliver ignores the shoots of pain in his left arm and frames Felicity's face with both hands. As she opens her mouth, no doubt to ask him what he's doing, he kisses her. Felicity is stunned at first but soon relaxes and leans into it. The kiss somehow tender and voracious at the same time. Oliver's stubble lends a roughness to it, while his right thumb draws small soft circles on her jawline.

" _That_ way." He clarifies, mumbling against her lips.


End file.
